From my compatriot at Euro-correspondent.com: The European Commission likes to blow its green trumpet. A recent climate change campaign launch was only slightly undermined by Commission president José Manuel Barroso refusing to give up his gas-guzzling Volkswagen Touareg SUV, writes Stephen Gardner for Private Eye.

More serious, however, is the Commission's increasing willingness to undermine environmental legislation, even if it means pulling the plug on proposals that have been several years in the pipeline. Many EU states wait for Brussels to lead on the environment because pollution knows no borders. But Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen and prominent supporters such as Irish commissioner Charlie McCreevy, are busy blocking new rules that threaten to upset their powerful business friends.

Long-awaited soil protection proposals, for example, due for publication March 24, were delayed because there were too many other press conferences that day, said a spokeswoman.

On the new date of June 7, however, the strategy simply failed to appear. Verheugen stepped in because of a proposal for a mandatory EU register of contaminated sites - a first step in rehabilitating them, which costs money.

It is not just green initiatives that have been watered down to the point of meaninglessness. Recent corporate social responsibility proposals were so undermined (and leaked) that hardly any journalists bothered to turn up to the launch - the European CEOs paraded for the event easily outnumbered them.

The future of the soil strategy remains unclear, and few people pay attention because soil is not sexy. But the Commission can do PR, so expect even more sloganeering over substance in the future.

In other EU development news, Ben Muse links to five European Commission studies on the Doha round.